Guiding Light (known as The Guiding Light before 1975, or simply GL) was a
daytime television drama, credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as
the longest running drama in television and radio history, running, from 1937
until 2009. It is also among the longest running broadcast programs in history
of any kind, across radio media for 15 years, and then television media for 57
years, being first broadcast five days after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s
second inauguration. It aired on radio from January 25, 1937, to June 29, 1956,
and debuted on CBS-TV on June 30, 1952 running for 57 years.

The series,originally sponsored by Procter and Gamble, was expanded from
15 minutes to a half hour in 1968, and then to a full hour show on November 7,
1977. On April 1, 2009, CBS announced that it canceled Guiding Light because
of low ratings. The show taped its final scenes on August 11, 2009, and its final
episode aired on September 18, 2009.  

From left, the actors Herb Nelson, Ellen Demming, Susan Douglas and Lyle
Sudrow appeared in the television premiere of “Guiding Light” on June 30,
1952.